Just so you know
by LadyRiverwolf
Summary: Couldn't think of a title... Based on Dude You Snore Like A Power Saw by Abiigaee/Bichol. "Leo was just Leo, and, with him, Piper was just Piper, too." Liper bromance because there isn't enough of it in the world. Like many of my stories, it starts cheerfully and tips over into sort of angstiness later, but nothing too serious. Romantic? Your choice. Enjoy.


_**I'm alive! Yay!**_

_**But school is killing me and I'm suffering from awful writers' block, so **_**Both Sides Now**_** is on hold, because I'd rather take my time and make a decent job of it.**_

_**This is a gift for the wonderful Bichol/ Abiigaee, and the "I told you to stop" bit is from her picture **_**dude you snore like a power saw. **_**Go. Google. NOW! :) P.S. I cut the F-word; I don't swear in stories. I don't mind when others do it, but I was brought up all posh and polite and stuff. XD Sorry.**_

_**Good luck with your finals, Abi. **_

_**Anyhow, Abi and everyone else, I really hope you enjoy this. I know it's not the best work; I'm so tired...**_

_**Leo and Piper (Uncle Rick's, not mine - just in case you hadn't noticed) are my BroTP, but it's really not hard to interpret this as romantic.**_

_**Also, I listened to the song**_** Just So You Know**_** by Jesse McCartney on repeat while writing this. I don't know how much it relates, but I should probably name it as an inspiration. **_

_**Oh my gods the HoH preview I'm so scared for Leo's sake I can't even-**_

_**Sorry for the rant. On with the story!**_

xXx

"We'll see about that, eh?"

"See about what-? Hey, Leo, stop!"Piper yelped as he caught her in a loose headlock and ruffled her hair. Hard. As if she didn't have enough greenery to disentangle from it already; long, unbound hair and the deep, dark woods (oh, man, the childhood memories) were a _really_ bad mix, as she'd confirmed that morning. She reckoned that she'd be able to give a magic hedgehog a run for its money if this continued. "Stop!" She yelped again but, as expected, he just laughed. _Right, that's it,_ she thought, _so help me, Annabeth..._ Remembering what she'd been taught only a couple of days before, she grabbed Leo's arm and twisted away, sending him sprawling.

("Argh! Piper, what the heck?")

For a skinny son of Hephaestus, he went with quite a clatter. Well, in her defence, she figured that the loamy forest floor was better than, say, the floor of Bunker Nine. She'd been relatively kind. She silently thanked her scary blonde friend for the doofus-wrangling lessons, then said in her best _now-be-a-good-boy-and-do-as-you're-told_ voice, "I _told_ you to stop." She couldn't quite tell whether he was laughing or wincing as, completely winded, he struggled to get his breath back. Trying not to laugh, she attempted to show some graceful remorse. "Sorry. You okay?" With some effort, he propped himself up on his elbows, grinning breathlessly, and said in a tone of mock-accusation.

"No, definitely not. You've killed me, bitch. I hope you're happy."

"Oh, I'm very happy. Dobby is free!" Leo smiled dryly,

"It's nice to feel loved." He flopped back on to the ground, evidently unwilling to invest effort in staying upright, "well, I hope you've got something suitably awesome planned for my funeral."

"Naturally," she confirmed in a business-like manner, sitting herself comfortably, "I'll get my Dad to provide free food, and therefore-"

"-I can pretend that I have friends."

"Exactly." It had been so long since she'd just hung out with Leo for the sake of hanging out with Leo.

In all honesty, she'd missed having someone to finish her sentences for her.

He propped himself up again and, just to let him know that she'd won the argument, she scooped up a handful of dry loam and scrubbed it into his hair, grinning wickedly as she rearranged the unruly curls to cover his eyes. He took it without complaint, and she admired her handiwork. "There. Very handsome."

He shook the hair from his eyes so that he could see again. "I don't need your help for that." She rolled her eyes.

"Anything you say, honey."

After a span of companionable silence and a mutter of assent to the reluctant suggestion that they couldn't afford to while away the entire day, Piper grabbed Leo's wrists and between the two of them they hauled themselves upright, laughing softly. She kind of wished that they could stay like that. Not just in that clearing on that sunny Spring afternoon.

Leo and Piper.

Piper and Leo.

No awful ultimatums, no complicated relationships, no impending apocalypse. Just two kids content with each others' company.

She replayed the conversation in her mind with a smile, but the dark clouds of fear soon rolled back in, worming through her thoughts like black ink spilled in water. They were never far away these days, and followed her as closely as a shadow. And the company of her friends could only keep them at bay for so long. She cursed her careless choice of words. "I didn't mean it, Leo. What I said before." In classic Leo-style, he'd been distracted. He pulled a twig from her hair and presented it to her with a smile and a slight bow, as if it was a flower of exquisite beauty. She shoved it into the pocket of her jeans.

"Now," he said, "you say something, Pipes?"

"I didn't- I didn't mean what I said before." Oh, gods. She blinked and stared into the foliage above, deliberately keeping her eyes wide. She wasn't going to start crying now, was she? A sunny day, Leo as cheery as she'd been, no immediate threats. She should've been happy.

But the nightmare idea wouldn't leave her alone.

Leo seemed to catch on. "Whoa, Piper, what's the matter?"

The worst thing was that she could see it happening. He was impetuous, with a strangely noble streak – it had taken her a while to catch on to that - and he seemed completely oblivious to his own importance. He didn't hand out friendship easily, but once he had, he was loyal to the death.

She let that thought sink in.

If it came to a straight choice over his life or hers, she couldn't be sure that he'd choose the former.

And she couldn't stand that idea.

"Piper," Leo's voice snapped her back to the present. She wasn't Leo-grade ADHD, but it was enough to make her phase out from time to time, especially when she was upset. "C'mon, talk to me, _chica_. You're not making sense."

She tried for a smile, hoping her voice wasn't shaking. "What else is new?"

"Don't take that tone with me. What's wrong?" She took an unsteady breath.

"Just be careful, okay?" Leo wasn't good with people; she could see him mentally going over what he'd said, trying to figure out what he'd done wrong.

"Be careful..? Oh." He put a hand on her arm, then pulled her into a hug. The sensation triggered a memory; she realised that they hadn't done this since the Wilderness School. She hadn't known how much she'd missed it. She buried her face in his shoulder.

That was one thing: with Jason, everything was complicated. Nervous. Intense. She kind of liked it, but at the same time it made spending time with him... uneasy.

But Leo was just Leo, and, with him, Piper was just Piper, too.

She kind of loved him for that.

"I will, I promise. I mean, we're not doing too badly so far, right?"

"Right." He stepped back self-consciously. Hera's master plan had driven a wedge between them. Jason had, too, albeit unintentionally. Piper was going to have to work on that. She smiled, and after a beat, Leo returned it. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Sure thing, Beauty Queen." She tried to suppress a grin; she'd never let on how much she liked that nickname.

As she walked away, the shadow of the prophesy – never far away – twisted through her thoughts.

_An oath to keep with a final breath._

"_I promise."_

_An oath to keep- Don't even think it._

And there was another bit that bothered her.

_To storm or fire the world must fall._

_Storm or fire._

She was afraid that she'd be forced to choose between them. Storm or fire. Her hopefully future boyfriend, or her best friend.

She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to make that choice.

Or perhaps she was afraid that she would.


End file.
